FIF 2023 Booklet.indd

AGENDA

WELCOME

Ellie Smotherman Taylor President/CEO, Alabama Grocers Association

INVOCATION

Patrick McWhorter Legislative Consultant, Alabama Grocers Association

LUNCH

OPENING REMARKS

Jimmy Wright, Wright’s Market Committee Chairman, Alabama Food Industry Finest

GUEST SPEAKER

Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth Lieutenant Governor, State of Alabama

AWARD PRESENTATIONS

Jimmy Wright, Wright’s Market Committee Chairman, Alabama Food Industry Finest

SPONSORS GREAT SEAL

STATE FLAG

COAT OF ARMS

GUEST SPEAKER

Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth State of Alabama

Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth, husband to Kendall and father to Hunter, Hays, and Addie, is a small business owner and farmer from Marshall County. Prior to entering public service, he worked as a youth pastor at Albertville’s Grace Fellowship Church. A co-founder of Dream Ranch hunting lodge and the Tennessee Valley Hunting and Fishing Expo, he currently owns Ainsworth Real Estate and Ainsworth Homes, which specialize in residential real estate construction and development. Ainsworth also operates a commercial Hereford and purebred Brahman cattle operation in Guntersville. After feeling the call to serve his community through elected office, Ainsworth won a seat in the Alabama House of Representatives in 2014. While serving in the House, he was a champion for public education, passed election integrity legislation, and emphasized issues relating to business, agriculture, and family values. Keeping a self-imposed legislative term limit promise, Ainsworth declared his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor in 2018 and received the most votes of any candidate for constitutional office on the general election ballot. Through the work of the Lieutenant Governor’s Commission on a 21st Century Workforce, he has focused on improving workforce development and training in order to recruit long-lasting, high-paying jobs to the state. As chairman of the Alabama Small Business Commission, Ainsworth also works to promote policies that grow and expand both new and existing businesses - ranging from small, mom and-pop operations to Alabama’s largest employers. Because of his commitment to providing Alabama’s schoolchildren with a quality education, he is a strong supporter of the state’s nationally-recognized “First Class” Pre-K program. Ainsworth serves as chairman of the Alabama Military Stability Commission, which works to ensure Alabama remains the nation’s most welcoming state to active soldiers and veterans. His efforts on behalf of military members and their families earned Ainsworth the Pete Taylor Award from the U.S. Department of Defense. He is the former chairman of the Aerospace States Association, a national group of elected officials, academics, and private sector entities that works to promote and expand the aviation and spaceflight industries.

AGA OFFICERS Chairman Bob Crawford United-Johnson Brothers Vice Chairman Wade Payne Food Giant/Mitchell Grocery Corp. Immediate Past Chairman Harold Garrett Gateway Foods Past Chairman Frank D’Amico, III BTC Wholesale Distributors

Treasurer Bill Davis A & R Super Markets, Inc. Secretary Bo Taylor Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Inc. Sergeant-at-Arms James Cochran

Buffalo Rock/Pepsi President/CEO

Ellie Smotherman Taylor Alabama Grocers Association

AGA VICE PRESIDENTS Jack Carlile UNFI Jay Mitchell Mitchell Grocery Corporation Tom Sayers Publix Super Markets, Inc.

Alison Steineker Alabama Power Company

Jimmy Wright Wright’s Market

AGA STAFF Stephanie Crabtree Event & Education Director

Tori O’Neal Membership & Communications Director

Patrick McWhorter Legislative Consultant

AGA DIRECTORS Stan Alexander Associated Grocers of the South

Jerry McCann Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co. Greg Rains Alabama Crown Distributing Co. Lynn Rushing SE Grocers/Winn-Dixie Manny Shoemaker Acosta Sales & Marketing Cliff Thomas

David Brownlow Blue Bell Creameries Paul Burnett

Byars | Wright Insurance Lucy Greer Cheriogotis Autry Greer & Son’s Kirk Clark Mitchell Grocery Corporation Chris Crosby UTZ Snacks/Golden Flake Gerry D’Alessandro Fresh Value Mike Hanson Milo’s

Campbell’s Snacks Austin Virciglio Piggly Wiggly Charles Weathington UNFI Boyd West Associated Wholesale Grocers Stacy Wiggins Rouses Enterprises Chris Woods Retail Data Systems

Kyle Kimsey Red Diamond Bubba Lindley EDLINCO

AGA EX-OFFICIO Peter V. Gregerson, Jr. Gregerson’s Foods James Scott Better Choice Power

John Wilson Super Foods Supermarkets

A Regional Grocery Distribution Center Serving the Southeast Since 1945

Family Owned And Operated Wholesaler

AUTHENTIC

Experienced Industry Professionals In All Areas To Service Your Needs

RELIABLE

No Layers, Easy To Get Things Done

STRAIGHT FORWARD

Flexible Logistics, Programs And People For All Stores Large Or Small

AGILE

We Listen To Our Customers, We Act, And We Deliver On Their Vision

FORWARD LOOKING

OUR PURPOSE IS TO SUPPORT THE GROWTH AND SPIRIT OF THE INDEPENDENT GROCER AND THE PEOPLE THEY SERVE.

For More Information, Please Call 1.800.447.7081 or Visit Our Website www.mitchellgrocery.com

VENDOR OF THE YEAR

Mr. Mike Hanson Milo’s

Mike began his career in the grocery industry after he graduated from the University of Montevallo in 1985. His introduction into the industry was through S.C. Johnson & Son selling to local retailers in North and Central Alabama. As his SCJ career advanced, he gained wholesale experience with two drug chains in the area, Big B Drugs and Harco Drugs. In 1992, Mike relocated to central Florida where he continued his career at SCJ with the Winn-Dixie & Albertson’s accounts. Mike changed companies joining ConAgra Frozen Foods where he had responsibility for Publix in 1994. Four years later, Mike relocated to Southern California with ConAgra to manage brokers. This led to an opportunity to become a field sales vice president for Maybelline/Garnier where his responsibilities included the central and western U.S. Home has always been Alabama, so when the opportunity arose to join Milo’s, a small three state DSD tea company, it seemed meant to be. They met as a family and decided their last move would be back to central Alabama. Mike has been with Milo’s for 14 years and involved with their transition from a small regional DSD company to the #1 national refrigerated tea brand distributed via their customer’s warehouse systems. He has been very active in AGA serving as the Vice Chairman of the AGA Board of Trustees and on the AGA Board of Directors. Mike remains very active with the Buy Alabama’s Best campaign currently serving as the Immediate Past President. In his free time, Mike loves spending time with family and friends, attending concerts, kayaking, running, swimming, and traveling. Mike resides in Pelham with his wife, Lynne. They have one son, Chris, and soon to be daughter-in-law, Haley.

...making investments for our retailers’ future pwadc Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co., Inc.

join our family! www.pwadc.net •Choose Strength •Choose PWADC PWADC is consistently recognized as one of the financially strongest cooperatives in the country. Join our many satisfied members and let that strength go to work for you today.

Contact Information •New Account Managers •Tommy Coghlan - 601-692-4122 •Maggie Phipps - 229-686-8358 •Tim Holland - 256-345-8019 •Director of Business Development - Jeff Brown - 205-830-9180 Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co. Inc., 2400 J. Terrell Wooten Drive, Bessemer, Alabama 35020

WHOLESALER OF THE YEAR

Mr. Jeff Brown Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Company

Jeff Brown is the Director of Business Development at Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Company, Inc. Before being named Director of Business Development in February 2023, Jeff held a leadership role as Director of Retail Operations, where he supervised and managed 35 Field Team members and a Retail Office staff of five. The Field Team is responsible for in-person customer relations, setting and resetting over 250 independent supermarkets. His Retail Office Team serves as support for the Field Team and the stores by creating and maintaining their price file, printing shelf tags, ordering equipment and services. Prior to joining and before being named the Director of Business Development at PWADC, Jeff had a very impressive resume at Bruno’s and now Dean’s Food. Jeff started his retail career in Florence, Alabama, while attending UNA his junior year. Jeff started with Bruno’s while attending college, as a part-time stocker. Realizing he wanted better for himself and his high school sweetheart, Patricia. Jeff was determined and quickly moved up Bruno’s Management Program’s ladder. Before completing the program, he proposed and married the love of his life, the beautiful Mrs. Patricia Brown. After which, Jeff completed the program and was promoted from Assistant Manager to Co-Manager, ending his 15-year career with Bruno’s, as Store Manager. Next, Jeff decided he wanted a new and different challenge. Thus, his decision to transition from the retail side of the business to the supplier side. This chapter of his career began in North Alabama at Barber’s Pure Milk. Jeff moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he bought his beautiful wife and their new bouncing baby boy, Wes, a farm. He then went to work for what would become Dean’s Foods. Over the course of 25 years and six name changes, Jeff served in Route Sales, then was promoted to Route Supervisor and Branch Manager. Jeff ended his 10-year career with Barber’s Pure Milk - Meadow Gold - Tri-State - Southern Foods - Suiza - Dean’s Food, as Director of Sales. In 2016, Jeff joined the PWADC Family as the Manager of Retail Department. After serving in that role for 4 years and 3 years as Director of Retail Operations, he now serves as Director of Business Development. In this new role, Jeff is responsible for warehouse sales and recruiting new independent store operators into PWADC’s Co-Op, store acquisitions, and store growth opportunities. His sales team consists of four Sales Managers that cover seven states in the South East. Jeff’s experience and dedication to PWADC has proven beneficial in sustaining their business through its continued growth.

RETAILER OF THE YEAR

Mr. Gerry D’Alessandro Fresh Value

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Gerry D’Alessandro was immersed in the world of retail, working at his family’s grocery store in Bessemer. From an early age, he was not just watching the business from the sideline; he was in the thick of it, bagging groceries. The rhythms of daily sales, interactions with customers, and the sense of camaraderie among the staff were not just routines for Gerry - they were lessons. By age 25, his entrepreneurial spirit, honed by years of firsthand experience, propelled him to take a significant step: he purchased the family store. This move was not just about maintaining a legacy; it was a manifestation of Gerry’s belief in the power of local businesses to serve and uplift communities. Within a decade, Gerry’s vision translated into tangible growth. The single store in Bessemer morphed into a chain of 14 Fresh Value supermarkets spread across Alabama. Each new location was not just a business expansion - it was a commitment to providing communities with quality meats, produce, and other essentials at affordable prices. Fresh Value was not just a brand; it was Gerry’s mission. Outside of his business life, Gerry is more than just an entrepreneur. He is a dedicated husband, having been married to Mikayla D’Alessandro for 8 years. Their shared passion for exploring new horizons has taken them on numerous travels across the world, creating memories that they cherish. In the landscape of Alabama’s retail industry, Gerry’s name is synonymous with resilience and growth. His journey from a young grocery bagger in Bessemer to the owner of Fresh Value is not only something that he is proud of, but something he continues to expand.

Quality service is the main ingredient in everything we do.

At Bu alo Rock, every day we strive to provide quality service to our customers. It’s a reputation we’ve built for more than a century, and a source of pride to us. We are equally proud of the communities we serve, and we stay dedicated to making them better places to live and work. The positive impact that we have in the places we do business will always be one of the most important services we o er.

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